


Choice Words

by mariescarisi (darahsooley)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Carisi angry, F/M, Fluff, Lunch date, Mama Olivia Benson, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Rollisi, SVU: 22x06, The Long Arm of the Witness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28912899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darahsooley/pseuds/mariescarisi
Summary: Carisi is furious after the standoff with Judge Gallagher. Luckily, Liv has her blonde Senior Detective on standby with the perfect idea to cheer him up. A Rollisi missing scene from “The Long Arm of The Witness” (SVU Ep 22x06).
Relationships: Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr./Amanda Rollins
Comments: 7
Kudos: 71





	Choice Words

**Author's Note:**

> First time ever writing a Rollisi missing scene. Let me know what you think! I have a lot of ideas!!! If people like it, I might make a collection of Rollisi one shots.

  
“You sure you’re good?” Liv asked, looking over at the tall district attorney. Carisi nodded, his jaw still clenched. She’d seen her prior detective angry before, but Gallagher’s comments seemed to have struck a certain nerve in him. His normally slouched demeanor was pin straight, creases disappeared in his pant leg as he towered over her. His jaw clenched tightly.  
  
“Yep. If you excuse me, I have to meet another attorney up on the second floor. I’ll be back.” Carisi spoke gruffly as he eyed the elevator. He shot Liv a hard look. Normally he wouldn’t walk through the precinct without at least checking in on Amanda or stopping to grab a coffee to take with him to his next meeting.  
  
“Uh, alright. Maybe take the stairs… Should I fill them in on-?” Liv followed him with her eyes, but he was already gone, cleverly taking her suggestion. He made his way to the stairs. It spared him from walking by his fellow unit desks. Liv sighed, watching him. The extra walk would hopefully help him cool off before his next meeting.  
  
She continued towards her office, purposely ignoring the eyes of her squad burning into her back as she made it to the door. She almost didn’t notice another tall figure standing nearby. Christian Garland smiled up at her before shooting a curious in the direction Carisi had stomped off in.  
  
“Chief! I wasn’t expecting to see you here, what’s going on?” Liv asked, offering him a small grin.  
  
“Nothing, just in the neighborhood. Thought I’d stop by to see how the meeting with Gallagher and his attorney went. Can I assume by Carisi’s sudden disappearance that it didn’t go…well?”  
  
“Well, it certainly went. How the hell Calhoun is representing him…” Benson shook her head, sighing. She unlocked the door to her office and headed inside. She placed her bag down on the wooden desk, shoving it down with more force than necessary. Olivia looked up, noticing Garland had followed her in the room. The slam of her bag had captured the ever-curious attention of her Sargent and senior detective.  
  
“Gallagher being a tool? Not surprising.” Fin said, stepping into the office.  
  
“Like you wouldn’t believe. That’s the only way he knows how to talk. I had to physically step between him and Carisi at the end. I didn’t think arresting our D.A. for battery would have helped this case.”  
  
“What?” Amanda said, eyes widening. She looked over her shoulder in the direction Dominick had stormed off in.  
  
“What happened?” Garland said, sighing. He knew the judge was a piece of garbage but also knew Carisi. The young D.A. would be an easy target for slime like Gallagher.  
  
“He’s a cocky, arrogant bastard. Sorry, Chief. He offered him a more than decent deal, but Gallagher and Calhoun all but laughed about it. We got up to leave and Gallagher had to open his mouth. He threatened to have Carisi disbarred, discredited his education and competence, threw in some disgusting Italian slurs, the whole shebang. I would have hit him too.”  
  
Liv’s audience sighed and rolled their eyes, muttering under their breath about the audacity of the great Judge Gallagher.   
  
“Carisi’s smart, he wouldn’t have thrown the first punch.” Fin said, shaking his head.  
  
“I’m not sure about that. It’s been a minute since I saw him that angry.”  
  
“Where’d he go, anyway?” Fin asked, looking around. He and Carisi weren’t as tight as they used to be, but he cared about the guy. It stressed his old squadmate enough with the fate of the judge’s prosecution resting on his shoulders.  
  
“Upstairs at another meeting. He said he’ll be back in a while. Probably going to need to go over some stuff about the trial.” Benson said.  
  
“Why don’t you guys head to my office tomorrow before the trial starts? We can see where we're at with everything. I want him to know we are fully backing him and are going to do everything we can to get this anything we can scrape up on Gallagher.”  
  
“Sure, Chief. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”  
  
“I’m going to head back over to my office. Keep me in the loop.” Garland said, offering Liv a smile. He nodded to the detectives before slipping back through the door of the Captain’s office.  
  
Fin followed him out, grumbling and shaking his head along the way.   
  
Amanda turned to do the same, but the Captain caught her.  
  
“Rollins, do you have any lunch plans?”  
  
“Uh…no…” The blonde detective furrowed her brow in confusion. If he had time, she planned on dragging Carisi with her to a new deli she found around the block. After hearing about how their morning went, she wasn’t sure. She wanted to order the sandwiches in and sit with him in his office until she saw a smile crack on his hardened face.  
  
“Why don’t you wait around for Carisi and then take him and go get lunch or coffee as you guys do? This morning was rough and knowing him, he’s gonna bury it the second he’s over it. With all the stress of the case already, he might appreciate a little time with a friend.”  
  
Amanda nodded.  
  
“You’re probably right.”  


* * *

  
After an hour went by, the squad continued digging through records for anything incriminating for Carisi’s case. The tall ADA never emerged from the second floor. He must have snuck out.   
  
“Fin, can you and Kat cover me for an hour? I’m going to go down to the D.A.’s office.” Amanda said, shutting her laptop. She grabbed her coat that was slung on the back of her chair, standing up to put it on.  
  
“You got it. And Amanda? Buck him up. I wanna see this asshole go down. Hard.” Fin leered.  
  
Rollins nodded meekly as she adjusted the buttons on her peacoat.  


* * *

“Hey Caroline, is Dominick in his office?” Amanda said, walking to where one of the administrative assistants sat. She clutched her big bag to her side. Caroline looked up from her computer.  
  
“Yeah, he is. He asked that nobody gets sent back there, though. I think he’s taking a lunch break. Seemed like a bad day in court.”  
  
“We both know I’m the exception to that rule, especially when I brought him a sandwich and some cannoli to cheer him up.” Rollins winked at the girl. She laughed.  
  
“Good luck! He seemed pretty stone-faced when he came through.” Caroline said, going back to her typing. She waved her hand for Rollins to pass.

* * *

  
“Does nobody from the squad room knock anymore? I see Caroline didn’t listen.” Carisi said coldly, looking up from the notepad in front of him. The door had opened suddenly, and Amanda made her way inside.  
  
“Come on, is that any way to talk to someone who brought you the best lunch you’re ever gonna eat?” Rollins grinned, hunching up her shoulder to reference her large purse at her side.  
  
“Sorry. It’s been a long day.” He replied, unable to keep up the taciturn demeanor with her.  
  
“Besides, Caroline knows the rules don’t apply to me.”  
  
“Or Kat either, apparently.” He added, putting down the pen.  
  
“What?” Rollins asked.  
  
“Nothing, Kat cornered me last week first thing in the morning. I’m thinking Caroline is going a little sweet on her.” Carisi looked up and met her eyes. His tone was light. The left side of his mouth lifted in a half-smile when he saw her long blonde hair standing in the doorway. Her just standing there made the pent up anger and frustration from their meeting with Gallagher nearly melt away. He gestured for her to sit in the chair on the opposite side of his desk.  
  
She took a seat, setting her bag on the ground beside her.  
  
“So, best lunch ever, huh?”  
  
“Yep, there’s a new deli around the corner from the precinct. I got your favorite, my favorite, and even some cannoli for dessert.”  
  
She unloaded the bag, handing him a water bottle, the sandwich, and a wrapped pastry.  
  
“Wow, what’s the occasion, Rollins? Did Liv send you to buck me up after the meeting this morning?” Carisi asked truthfully.  
  
“She told us she had to hold you back. I figured deli sandwiches were celebratory enough for the occasion of no battery charges.” Rollins said humorlessly, unwrapping her own sandwich.  
  
He groaned and reached for the sandwich. Carisi unwrapped it gently, staring at the contents. After a moment of silence and several bites, Rollins glanced up at him.  
  
“Dominick…are you alright?” She asked sincerely.  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine.” His words were minced, and he didn’t look at her.  
  
“Liv said Judge Gallagher had some choice words.” She offered.  
  
“Choice words.” He shrugged, “Nothing I haven’t heard before. It’s not the words that get me.”  
  
“From what I heard; I would want to hit him too.”  
  
“I wish I had. That sure would have fixed things, maybe teach him to keep his damn mouth shut. If that guy went and spewed that kind of old school slurs around Staten Island, it wouldn’t be long before his body would be washin’ up on South Beach.” Carisi rambled on, shaking his head in disgust. “Screw him. It’ll be sweeter in the end anyway when it’s his career that’s dead and buried.”  
  
Amanda sat back in her chair. She was angry now, too. Liv had sugar-coated what had been said Carisi. She wasn’t sure she wanted to have known what was actually said. From the way Carisi’s fists clenched around his sandwich, she imagined it wasn’t something to be repeated. She hated this guy more than ever now. She empathized with these women he talked down to, especially after talking with the girl who is pressing charges. They wouldn’t have a case if it weren’t for her putting everything on the line. But when the disrespect is towards someone she cares about, someone she’s close to, someone who would do anything for her or her daughters, it shook her to her core.  
  
“Is that something he said? That your career would be dead and buried?”  
  
“Yep. Though, not sure how he can see little old me so clearly from his so-called high horse.”  
  
He looked up at her.  
  
“We’ll get him, Dominick. You will. You’re one of the smartest people I know, if anyone can make sure this bastard can’t get out of this, it’s you.” Amanda sat up straighter, her voice firm in the words of comfort.  
  
She let go of her sandwich to gently slide her palm across the desk. Her narrow hand fit smoothly over his large one, caressing his skin tenderly.  
  
“You’ll get him.” She repeated her words again, looking into his vibrant blue eyes.  
  
After a moment, the tension in his face dissolved completely. Sonny offered her a smile, maneuvering his hand to enclose it around hers.  
  
“And you know, according to Chef Jesse, you can’t eat a cannoli while frowning. You taught her that, so you gotta’ practice what you preach.” Rollins added, gesturing to the wrapped pastry.  
  
Carisi laughed, his face lighting up at the mention of one of his goddaughters.  
  
“I suppose I can’t go against my own teachings.”  
  
They filled the rest of the hour with laughs and small talk as they discussed every little thing besides the case—a much-needed distraction. Jesse’s days at kindergarten since school resumed after the holidays, Billie’s latest bathtub crayon drawing, Bella and Tommy’s new house.  
  
And through the hour, their hands stayed in the same spot wrapped tightly around each other.  
  
Carisi’s phone rang, cutting their time together short.  
  
“That’s gotta be Liv. We have witness prep this afternoon.”  
  
“And with you and her doing that, we’re gonna be shorthanded at the station.” Rollins exhaled, letting go of Carisi’s hand so she could roll up their trash.  
  
She stood up with the crumpled papers in her hand, tossing them into the trash can at the side of his desk.  
  
Carisi sat straighter in his chair and watched her as she moved. She passed the trashcan and came to his side, his head following to stare up at her. Amanda placed a hand on his shoulder, looking down at him.  
  
“You’ll get him. Just hang in there, Dominick.” She said, bending down slightly to press her cheek to his hair. She stood for a minute, no discomfort between them. The pair had grown extremely close during the quarantine days. Carisi had all but moved in with her to help her with her girls. And ever since their interrupted New Year’s, an imminent feeling of intimacy was growing at a rampant pace between the two.  
  
She sighed and raised her head to back away from Carisi, stopping for a moment to stare at the framed photo on the desk.  
  
“Let me know when your home after witness prep, Sienna has the girls tonight, and I’ll bring you dinner.”  
  
He looked up at her and smiled again, causing a warm flood of emotions to rain through her.  
  
By the time she was by the door, she turned back to him one last time.  
  
“By the way, great picture on your desk. I have the same one.”  
  
  
  



End file.
